


Family Portrait

by AnotherAnonymousAuthor



Series: The Life and Times of Maria and Natasha Hill [7]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Comic Universe - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Baby BlackHill, Black Hill - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Iron Baby, M/M, Married Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-11
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-08 09:56:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1936533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnotherAnonymousAuthor/pseuds/AnotherAnonymousAuthor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You are used to functioning on no sleep. But this is a whole new level...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

You’re beyond tired.

Your twins are almost three months old; it’s taken you two months to figure out their sleeping patterns.

You are used to functioning on no sleep; years of espionage training, countless missions and having two kids has helped.

But this is a whole new level.

You want to be a little more hands on; four kids is a lot to handle for anyone regardless of how much training you’ve had.

You don’t want to put your wife under extra pressure by leaving her to look after them alone when you participate in missions.

You spend your days entertaining the boys and attempting to train; you can tell that they are a little put out with the way they cling to you.

You spend your nights lifting yourself out of bed every two hours; only a few months old and they are tag teaming you already.

You’re Natasha Hill and your wife sees you falling asleep on the couch, Isobel in one arm and Theo cuddled into your side; she kisses you and threatens with a smile to tuck you in if you don’t stop yawning.

She carried them for nine months; you can do without the sleep.

And it does help that you have the weekend off.

She is settled above you in bed; everything is slow and gentle and the silence is filled with easy kisses.

You’re told not to get out of bed tonight; she will get the twins when they wake up.

You wake up when they cry out of habit.

You don’t get out of bed.

You cuddle into her side when comes back.

You’re exhausted but this is perfect.

The next morning she greets you with coffee and pancakes.

Her parents are coming to town.


	2. Chapter 2

You’ve been thinking.

You’re met with a raised eyebrow; you give her a look of joking disbelief.

In the current moment you have a rare morning alone; her body is beneath yours and your thigh slips that little further between hers.

You’ve come to the conclusion; all this time you’ve been training your successor.

You think that it’s almost time for you to retire from field work; you have kids and you don’t want to leave them behind because something went wrong.

She looks at you in silence; you love your work.

Her breathing is slightly heavy; you shuffle to ease some pressure.

It’s true; you feel a sense of satisfaction in being able to protect people.

You suggest that you could train recruits or be your rookie’s handler; it was safer.

She asks you where these thoughts have come from; in all honesty, a comment from your mother-in-law over dinner the night before about godparents had left your mind reeling.

Coulson and Clint would look after them if anything ever happened to you and your wife; they were a ‘just in case’, but you never actually considered that you wouldn’t be there.

She asks you if you’re sure, if you really want to give up field work.

You mutter that it’s safer; she tells you that that isn’t what she asked.

You’re Natasha Hill and you’re human; something you never thought you could be until you met her, until you created yourself and allowed yourself to feel and question and _want_.

You want to be able to come home to your family.

You want to be that person who helps her kids with homework and tucks them in and rescues them from their monsters.

You want to fall asleep next to your wife every night because you can’t picture anything better.

Once upon a time love was for children; you had priorities and they were to follow Red Room’s orders.

And then you were freed; you chose your own path with a lowering sense of fearing conviction.

You are who you want to be; you wouldn’t change that for anything.

She kisses you and pulls you back into the pillows.

You’re sure that this is what you want.

You think.


	3. Chapter 3

You spend the summer thinking.

In between being a wife and a mother, an Avenger, an SO and an agent of SHIELD.

You need to find a partner for Skye; she is capable of course but she isn’t a specialist like May or Barton.

You watch as your oldest turns five; you’re a little dumbfounded that night when your wife tells you that he needs to be enrolled in school.

You’re happy and sad at the same time; the last ten years have flown by and the kids are growing up so quickly.

You’re positive that retirement from field work is your next step.

Theo is school age now; he spends hours on his stomach drawing with his crayons and somehow had knack for finding the beat in songs.

Noah is three and starting kindergarten; his bright blue eyes are inquisitive and somehow Bruce can keep him entertained for hours with baby science experiments.

The twins are six months old and rolling themselves over; they are just as curious as the boys were.

It’s hard to for you to believe.

Every night you read a story to the boys and tuck them in; you take turns getting up if the twins cry.

You wouldn’t swap the dirty nappies, the spit up stains and the heart attacks they’ve given you for anything.

You’re Natasha Hill and you’re in Virginia when you get the call; you’re seeking out a former agent to determine if she could be Skye’s partner.

Sharon Carter is a little pissed that no one told her SHIELD had reformed; she’ll be on a flight in the next few days.

You’re disembarking your plane early the next morning; your wife is next to you because there was no way she would let you walk into Langley alone.

Her phone lights up the moment she turns it on; her parents had jumped at the opportunity to baby sit.

She shows you some photos that were sent through and then calls her father back; seven missed calls.

You watch as her face drops and her overnight bag almost slides off her shoulder; she is a mixture of anxiety and anger and fear.

You have to ask her three times before she answers you.

There was an accident and someone fell down the stairs at home.

Your heart is in your throat; you’re shaking.

Theo is in the hospital.


	4. Chapter 4

You hate hospitals on the best of days.

Right now you’re a prisoner to one; your eldest son is lying curled up with his toy giraffe under the sterile lighting and a nasty bump to his head.

He has a concussion said the Doctor; he wanted your son to stay one more night just to make sure he was okay.

You sit in the more accommodating chair on the children’s ward with your cheek against your first; you don’t take your eyes off of him.

He has been asleep since you arrived; he doesn’t know you’re there.

Your wife is outside the room talking to her parents and you can feel her eyes flick to the two of you; she’s not exactly quiet.

You hear her words; he could have been seriously injured or killed.

You have restrain yourself; if you confront them it will not end well for anyone involved.

When she enters the room she presses a kiss to his forehead; you let her sit in your lap but you don’t shift your gaze when you ask.

They weren’t paying attention; Noah and Theo were play fighting in a bedroom; he slipped.

You’re Natasha Hill and you let out a shaky breath; you hide in her shoulder because you were _scared_.

More scared than that time you fought an Alien race lead by a God, or that time that Russian Mobster had one of his lackeys hold you over a ledge while you were tied to a chair, or all those times as a child when you had been punished by Red Room operatives.

Fear was something you simply pretended to understand; you don’t like it and it makes you want to crawl out of your skin.

Especially if one of your children are involved.

Your head snaps up when you hear him mumble for his mama; you smile at him and scoot your chair closer.

Your wife sits next to him and smothers him in gentle kisses; you can feel the tightly coiled anxious worry release but only slightly.

You watch as he asks for cuddles with a pouty lip.

You tell him he can have whatever he wants as long as he never scares either of you again.

You hear him agree because it hurts too much.

You let out a chuckle and brush his hair.

You see him drift off.

You smile gently at your wife.

He’s okay.


	5. Chapter 5

You feel your chest tighten.

Your boys are sitting at the table eating breakfast and you and your wife have a twin each; you’re both watching them closely like it’s the last time you’ll ever see them.

You spent the rest of the summer doing ice cream trips after lunch and trying to help Carter and Skye get along; you know which you prefer.

Theo is all dressed for his first day of school; he was adamant about picking out his own clothes.

You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling proudly because he was just like his mother; it had taken him a few days to get back to his normal self although he was a little weary of the staircase.

Noah is off to kindergarten too and you walk to the school together a few blocks over.

You hold hands with the boys and they chatter the whole way there; behind you, your wife follows with the twins.

You stand under your wife’s arm as their teachers meet them at the front door; you wave and smile and don’t let the sadness show until they’ve disappeared inside.

You head to the Tower and in the moment you’ve never felt more like a mother.

You feel a kiss to your forehead and lean into your wife for the rest of your walk.

You head straight to the training mats; Barton is trying to murder training dummies as violently as possible.

You’re Natasha Hill and when your son was in the hospital, your pigeon let you take out your fear and worry on him in a long winded sparring session; you intend to return the favour.

You draw him away from the dummies; you manage to convince him to tell you what he’s angry about.

He and Coulson have been knocked back for an adoption; Phil really wants kids.

He gets sloppy when he is angry; easily enough you drop him to the mats and pin him.

You tell him that the two of them will be parents; it will happen and that they deserve it.

You tell him that sometimes these things take time; you’ve never seen him so defeated.

You know how he feels. 


	6. Chapter 6

You smile over your dinner and ask another question.

Since they got home from school, neither child has been able to stop talking; their teachers say that they are inquisitive as ever.

Your children took to their educations the way a fish does to water; by the time the Christmas holidays roll around they are actually saddened about the idea of a break.

You are called into the school one afternoon; your son has been caught fighting with another student.

You hear him say that they were picking on his little brother; he wanted to be brave like his mothers.

You promise the principle to deal with it and offer a sincere apology to the boy’s parents; you take both the boys back to the Tower and try to explain that fighting isn’t an option.

You’ve never been very good at disciplining them; your wife was better at it.

Admittedly that is hard when he throws back that you do it all the time.

You make him promise not to fight again; he won’t be getting dessert after dinner.

He hangs his head.

Before he started school, you had to explain that he couldn’t tell people about what occurred in the Tower; it was a secret.

So far, so good.

But now he was fighting under the ideation that he was being like you; this is the first time you’ve ever been identifiably stumped with what to do as a parent.

You talk to your wife once they are all asleep; she suggests that you teach him a few things on the weekend to help him learn patience.

You worry that you might be too harsh; she tells you that that would be your restraint.

You’re Natasha Hill and you don’t want him to turn out like you; you simply want him to understand that he doesn’t need to fight because you do enough of it as it is.

You ask him what he thinks; even after you say it’s not easy he still agrees.

A kiss is pressed to your forehead as your wife heads for coffee.

You two are more alike than you think she whispers.

You chuckle.

That worries you a little.


	7. Chapter 7

You are facing a haphazardly formed group of new recruits.

It is your job to weed out who will go on to the new SHIELD Academy to learn specialties; Barton is eyeing them from the air vents and Cap and Carter are helping to oversee it.

They have been rather difficult to separate after she joined the team; you’ve only just been convinced by your wife not to ask Jarvis exactly how much time they spend together.

You can tell that they don’t take you seriously; it may be because of the five year old in his SHIELD Halloween costume and oversized aviators standing next to you with his arms crossed like he is the Director.

He’s seen you in the same pose too many times.

You watch them become disgruntled when you introduce him as Agent Theo; at this point he knows more about operations and has a higher ranking than they do.

He’s five; almost six and he is on his way to being a skilled fighter after only a few months.

You had stressed to him more times that you can count that it is for defending himself only; you hadn’t been called to the school since the last time and you think it’s because he doesn’t want to risk missing out on dessert.

You’ve spent many weekends teaching him how to defend himself; only after he finishes his homework of course.

You’re happy with his ability to pick up what you are explaining; nothing that could kill anyone, only disarm them.

You’re not at all surprised through considering who his parents are; you smile proudly on your knees with a kicking pad as he kicks as hard as his little legs can.

You used your pigeon as a practice dummy one day to show him more easily; Barton walked out with a bloody nose and it wasn’t from your fist.

You looked at Theo who was sheepishly looking at the floor and mumbling an apology; his godfather responded hours later with a long winded tickle session.

You’re Natasha Hill and your wife has said that he is the spitting image of you; he has somehow learnt your intimidating eyebrow raises and unreadable expressions.

You don’t want him to be the exact same; if you have your way he won’t.

At your nod, Agent Theo gives instructions that you practiced; Communications to Agent Skye, Engineering and Bio-Science to Agents Fitz and Simmons, Combat and Specialists to remain on the mats.

You watch as he talks; he seems to be a balance of you and your wife.

He may only be five but he has a commanding presence already.

You laugh at the realisation and the recruits disperse.


	8. Chapter 8

You’re not sure what it is that makes time pass so quickly.

It was just yesterday that you were walking the boys to school for their first day; now your twins are celebrating their first birthday.

You have cake on your face courtesy of Owen; your wife is laughing at you so you catch her easily enough to wipe your cake-smeared face on her top.

Their brothers had to help with blowing out the candles and Skye has a photo of the six of you covered in cake and laughing.

It isn’t until the presents have all been opened and everyone else has left that you get a present of your own; you eyeball your pigeon and his husband.

You open an envelope; your wife looks at you, and then at the two before asking why you are holding a photo of a boy and girl.

He tells you with a wide grin to meet your godchildren; nine year old Grace and her six year old brother Otis.

You tackle him; you’re joined by the boys instantaneously who are excited at the idea of more cousins.

You hear your wife hug Coulson with a congratulations; they will officially be Barton-Coulson kids at the end of the month.

You’re Natasha Hill and you’re proud of your pigeon; he got his happy ending and you honestly believe that he deserves it.

You’re alone later and over a beer he tells you that he’s scared; you agree because he’s gone from none to a father of two almost overnight.

It’s a big change; but he can do it because he has the man he loves, and his best friend and his entire misfit family to help.

You get into bed and relish in the feeling of happiness that has been bubbling away in your chest all day.

Your wife pushes you down into the mattress and arch.

She tells you with a smirk that you better not ask for another one.

You promise through a moan.

You have your family.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for the delay; university classes are kicking my arse.

You’re watching the kids carefully.

You can’t stop yourself from laughing silently as you fed both of the twins at once; your wife is smirking from behind her computer as she continued to sift through new information.

Otis and Theo were about the same age; the two of them were staring at the other out of curiosity while Grace and Noah watched the stand off over their sandwiches.

It had been official for about a month; you’ve been told that you were the same as Clint was, nervous and worried since they brought Grace and Otis into the misfit family.

You apologised to your wife smartly and smirked.

You could tell that the boys didn’t really understand; they had grown up with Amelia but all of a sudden there were two kids about the same age in the picture that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Your oldest and their youngest were now in the same class but didn’t quite understand each other; your son had somehow inherited your natural instincts while your godson was simply nervous about new people.

Coulson had suggested that the kids have a play date; Theo heard the words and gave his godfather a stern look because he was simply too cool to have a play date.

He was an Agent of SHIELD after all.

Despite all of your training, you couldn’t keep a straight face.

You offered to take the kids for the night on Friday after school; they could have a sleepover and get to know each other better.

You had practically forced Clint out of your apartment and slammed the door in his face. You received three successive text messages less than five minutes later with a second copy of doctors numbers and allergies and to call him if they needed him even though you had it all written down and stuck to the fridge.

Grace was polite enough to look up from a book when she was talked to and used her manners and did her homework and reminded her brother to do his but otherwise kept to herself.

Otis stuck to his sister’s side, only coming out of his shell after dinner to play with some building blocks. By the next morning he was quiet again but could smile at least.

You’re Natasha Hill and even though you have four of them, you doubt you will ever understand the workings of a child’s mind; Theo and Otis were sizing each other up and it was one of the funniest things you had ever seen.

The apartment is silent except for your coaxing’s of the twins to open up for their lunch until there was a declaration that someone had finished a sandwich and that Otis should come and play.

He looked nervously at his sister who shrugged; he looked nervously at you and you muttered with a smile that he could go play if he wanted to.

You think it might have been prohibited in his last home as you watch him shuffle over to Theo.

Grace disappeared into her book and Noah asked to go and play too; he shoved the last of his sandwich into his mouth when you told him the condition and ran after his brother with his cheeks puffed.

You laughed out loud with your wife and handed her a twin with a kiss.

You shook your head; the things kids do.


End file.
